You most likely have at least somewhat of an idea of what you envision the rest of your life to be – whether that’s something along the lines of becoming a doctor, an accountant or even a professional chef.

We dedicate a lot of time and money to expand our knowledge on a specific area of study, certain that we will have a promising job awaiting for us as soon as we get that degree on graduation day.

You may already be headed down a path that you have paved for yourself, such as going to nursing school or being a student teacher. But just because you’re on the road to receiving higher education, doesn’t mean that what you just spent four (or more) years studying is what you’ll end up doing for the rest of your life.

I grew up learning that there are essentially two choices: right and wrong. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that life isn’t so black and white. We’re given a life where we have the opportunity to make choices every single day, which aren’t always just between what’s good and what’s bad.

The numerous choices of deciding what to eat, where to go to college and which job we want is what makes life exciting and full of color – just like the leaves on a tree.

Once leaves change color, they fall to the ground with no permanent destination, just going wherever the wind blows them. I believe that we can make a choice to do the same, by accepting that not everything will go as we have planned and focusing more on "going with the flow."

You see, just because we have a plan carved out of what we think our future will be, doesn’t mean that is how it will unfold. By choosing to accept the unknown, we can then have the freedom to be open to whatever comes our way and experience all that life has to offer.

If you focus solely on what you want during this exact moment, you can easily get caught up in making sure you reach that goal simply to achieve it, rather than making sure that's what you really want. We are each equipped with various talents that we’ve been given for a greater purpose, which we could end up unintentionally neglecting if we only focus on the plan we have for ourselves right at this moment.

While it's certainly not a bad thing to have a plan for what you want to do in the future, it's important to be aware of all of the "colorful" opportunities that could come your way, or you could miss out on even greater things - whether that's through a relationship, new job or even moving to a different country to do something you never thought you could do.

So take some time to reevaluate why you’re doing what you’re doing, and don’t be afraid to do like the leaves and go wherever the wind decides to take you.